Lawyer saves teen girl from prostitution racket, 4 held
5 Apr 2009, 0245 hrs IST, TNN
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CHENNAI: A woman lawyer backed by an NGO rescued an 18-year-old girl who was forced into prostitution by a gang in Villupuram. Based on the
lawyer's complaint, police arrested a pimp and three women who had forced the girl into the flesh trade.
The victim's mother, a construction employee, had eloped with a worker, abandoning her daughter in Puducherry. According to the lawyer, PA Lucie, she came to know about the girl, Vasanthi (name changed), on March 18 from an NGO volunteer in Puducherry. "We went to the particular place in Puduchery where the girl was confined to a small room in a house and used for prostitution. We rescued the girl and she stayed with me," Lucie said.
Police arrested the pimp, Stephen Raj, and the three women - Logeswari, Lakshmi and Poongavanam - for initiating the girl into prostitution. Initial inquiries with the girl revealed that she had been shifted from place to place - Villupuram, Salem, Tiruchi and other cities in Tamil Nadu - and forced to entertain men and make money. Police have launched a search for a few others involved in the racket.
According to sources, Vasanthi stayed with her mother Ilavarasi in a house in Puducherry. They had left their native village Karungkuzhi, near Villupuram, after Ilavarasi's husband Vaidyalingam died. Ilavarasi had begun working as a construction employee. Trouble started in Vasanthi's life when Ilavarasi eloped with a maistry', leaving her teenage daughter. The house owner then drove Vasanthi away. Learning about her problems, a neighbour Sathya came forward to help her on the pretext of offering her the job of a domestic maid. Sathya sold Vasanthi for a meagre amount to a prostitution agent in Puducherry who later sold her to other agents.
"The prostitution agents have a nexus with politicians and some tainted officers," Lucie said.
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